Wednesay's Nor'Easter didn't stop East Meadow residents from waiting outside for gasoline. This photo was taken at the Gulf Station on Front Street on Wednesday afternoon.

East Meadow residents Dean and Rob, who preferred not to say their last names, looked on as LIPA trucks fixed electrical wires on Prospect Avenue on Thursday afternoon.

Their daughters, Ava, 7, and Leah, 5, played in the snow next to them, having had the day off from school because of inclement weather -- the seventh time in eleven days.

The two families have been without power since Monday, Oct. 29, when Hurricane Sandy made landfall on Long Island. It's the same story for roughly one-third of East Meadow residents who belong to LIPA.

Wednesday's Nor'Easter, which dumped roughly six inches of snow on East Meadow, increased the number of power outages in the area. According to LIPA's power outage map listed on its website, 3,719 East Meadow customers remain without power as of Thursday afternoon.

The frustration of the two men was clearly evident, as they observed the LIPA trucks, desperate for answers. “I just don’t like the communication problem," said Dean. "Every time they came up here, they’d say five days, then two weeks... then nothing.”

“It’s just annoying," added Rob, who then chose to look on the bright side. “It could be worse. We could not have a house anymore.”

According to LIPA's homepage, Wednesday's storm caused 123,000 additional power outages. The power authority said 14,000 workers, including 8,200 linemen and tree trim crews from across the country, are currently working to restore electricity to homes."

On Monday, LIPA predicted that 90 percent of its customers would have power restored by the middle of the week. The power authority has since changed its stance, and is no longer giving a timetable. "This recent storm will have some impact on restoration efforts, but all of our crews are prepared to work in these types of conditions," it reads on the LIPA homepage. "Rest assured that we will continue to work as long as, and whenever, it is safe to do so."

Calls and emails to LIPA by the Herald have yet to be returned.

Nassau County legislator Norma Gonsalves said she was finally able to get in touch with LIPA on Thursday morning, and was able to express her discontentment with the power authority. “In my district there's a number of outages that have not been taken care of since day one," she said. "The excuse I get is that it's not 'a big enough of pocket.'"

Comments

LIPA has not given us a specific date to restore power in my home. We are getting sick of their lies about getting our power back. Now that we are getting sick from being so cold who will take the blame for it? This is getting very frustrating and we should be able to have a better option on who do we choose to run our electric in East Meadow. Jobs should start to be threatened.